This Is Definitely The Shortest Dragon Tail I've Made. The Commissioner Requested That It Be Only 16

This is definitely the shortest dragon tail I've made. The commissioner requested that it be only 16 inches long, so it wouldn't quite reach down to knee height. They asked for a mix of purple and blue, and I put together a pattern for them, which they liked.

Photographing the purple scales is always troublesome. The fact that it's approaching twilight and the light is very blue doesn't help.

As usual, it's made of anodized aluminum scales linked together with stainless steel rings. I included the pattern, in case people were curious. (Though I ended up slightly expanding the top after finishing it according to the pattern and finding that I had mis-calculated the length a bit.)

Chandelier Saga Part 2: CAD

Picking up the story of making this giant lamp, we get to the hardest, most important part, but also the least photogenic. That would be, the computer modeling and prototyping.

Here's what I was going for in terms of structure:

The scales are made of 1/16" thick plywood, linked to their neighbors by bolts. The struts spanning the widths of the scales are there to pull the ends together and make sure the centers bend upwards to let enough light through.

It turned out to take something like 4 full rebuilds of the computer model before I was happy with it. The root of the problem is related to the fact that it's really hard to model how real-life materials will bend. So every few days for a couple weeks I had to re-draw all the geometry with slight differences, head in to the laser shop to cut the pieces out, and assemble them to see what it would look like.

Hit the jump for a bunch of screen shots of the different steps involved in designing the final piece.

Working in Rhino (my 3D Computer Aided Design software of choice/training/convenience), I started with an ideal originator surface, created by revolving a curve. I dropped grid points along it:

Then I drew out the base shape for the scales with points and lines. The tips of the scales are drawn out in space perpendicular to the grid point they're above. Their distance from the surface is proportional to the width of that scale:

Next, turning that into surfaces and mirroring the scales along their center-line. (Also, there were some steps involved in expanding the edges of the scales to accommodate the bolts.)

Next comes a polar array to get them all in place:

And a cut-away view to show the internal structure that would hold the light bulbs in place:

But then (after testing the floppiness of the previous prototype) I decided I should give it a bit more structure to support certain points of the surface. Figuring out the geometry for that was a pain:

With that done, time to flatten the scales:

...and lay out the sheets that I would be laser-cutting:

Then I just have to cut twelve copies of each of these sheets, plus a half dozen or so more sheets for the internal structure.

And that mostly wraps it up for the CAD part of this story. I'm intentionally glossing over a lot of the geometry headaches, because you don't want to think about it. Trust me.

Next up will be photos of construction! Though I foolishly forgot to take any photos of actually laser-cutting the scales.

I'll leave you with the front view of that prototype I showed at the beginning:

Chandelier Saga Part 4: The Big Day

Seeing this installed and lit up was fantastic. It was hung in a big tent for a fundraising gala banquet, and it really held its own in the big space. I don't know who it was who had the idea to scatter the smaller paper lamps around the chandelier, but it was a fantastic idea.

I went in before the event started to take photos, and they had lit it up beautifully with color-shifting spot lights. The effect was really cool. By the time the banquet started, though, they'd toned that down to let it illuminate itself. I did very much enjoy seeing the play of colored shadows across the textured surface, but seeing the light seeping from below the scales, making it glow from within as I'd hoped it would, made all that work worth it.

Everyone seemed to love it, which was awesome. The Possible Project, who had commissioned the design, made a couple of these available on their Kickstarter, and two people ordered one. So there will be a couple more of these made!

This tail was commissioned as part of a Discord costume. So it's primarily red, with pink diamonds down the spine in place of Discord's little rounded spikes/ridges.It's also got three lobster clasps at the tip, in case the commissioner wants to attach a tuft of hair to the end to complete the look. (I don't deal in fabrics or fuzz, though maybe I should try learning at some point.)

I wasn't able to get photos of it being worn before I had to ship it out, but I did have a second tail on hand which was awaiting payment. So I got a photo with the two tails nestling together. They look like they're cuddling. Anyway, more photos of that tail will be coming in a couple days when I have a chance to go through them.

Both tails are made of anodized aluminum scales linked together with stainless steel rings. You wear them by looping a sturdy belt through a pair of loops on the tail. For more, check out my dragon tail information page!

What is your process for making your scaled pieces, and how do you link them? I've made a few gauntlet and mail shirt sets with similar scale-like pieces (out of steel, or aluminum for lighter weight commissions) and have had trouble making the scales so uniform. I imagine you use a laser cutter, but what would you suggest if I don't have access to something like that?

I buy my metal scales from a chainmail supply manufacturing company called The Ring Lord. Here's the order page with their scales. I generally use the large sized scales for big projects like tails, and the small size for jewelry. They also put together a simple instructional video for how to weave the scales together. 

I have started making a few pieces with wooden scales that I did laser-cut myself, though. I hope to do larger, more involved pieces like that in the future, but laser cutting that many scales is kind of expensive, and I haven't had a chance to toy with it too much. I would love to have access to something that would let me cut metal parts to integrate into chainmail pieces.

Chandelier Saga Part 3: Assembly

And here's the exciting part--putting everything together!

We have:

Pieces being cut on the laser cutter

Treating all the wood with flame-retardant

Sorting all the pieces back out (I etched a label on every piece so this would be feasible.)

Beginning to construct the skin, expanding radially from the bottom center

Assembling the parts for the support structure, along with getting the bulb sockets in place.

Attaching the substructure into the skin

Testing it out (and replacing the bulb that released the magic smoke)

Moving it upstairs and finishing construction in the living room

Just barely fitting it into the car.

And that was it! I was done! It would be hung by rigging professionals, and it would be beautiful! Photos of it installed will be coming in another post.